This 90's kid loves the revival of so many classic trends, including a good o'll velvet scrunchie! You may have seen my "How to Crochet a Scrunchie 3 Ways" post. Swap out the yarn for one of these delicious velvety chenille yarns like Bernat Velvet and you've got yourself a time machine back to the days of slap bracelets and getting slimed.
But what if you're not yet handy with a crochet hook? Or you've been bitten by the finger knitting bug but are frustrated with the limited project options? Believe it or not, even the novice yarnie can make these beautiful velvet scrunchies with nothing but your fingers, a hair tie, some velvet yarn and a big sewing needle. So get those fingers ready and check out the tutorial below!
And for you visual learners, I have a video tutorial you can check out right HERE:
The key to this little scrunchie is the velvet yarn. Apart from looking luxurious it is also great at hiding any mistakes which is perfect for beginners.
I've compiled a list of velvety chenille style yarns that work perfectly in this design. I'll try to add more as they become available. You can find that here:
And as I mentioned, you'll need a big needle also called a tapestry needle or darning needle. They look like this:
and have a huge eye so you can thread chunky yarn and have a blunt tip. I'll show you exactly how to use it!
Now grab your yarn. You'll need two strands of the velvet chenille. You can take an end from the outside of the ball and the end from the inside of the ball.
How to finger knit
1. Lay your strands across your palm. Wrap the yarn around the back of your index finger. Weave it in front of your middle finger, then behind your ring finger. Weave it in front of your pinky.
2. Then wrap around the back of your pinky. Continue, in front of your ring finger, behind your middle finger and weave it in front of your index finger.
3. Now that you have two loops on each finger, pull the bottom loop over the top loop and off your finger. Do that for all 4 fingers. Push the loops down that remain on your fingers. Then, you'll again weave the yarn in front of your middle finger to repeat steps 1 and 2.
Whenever you have two loops on your finger, pull the bottom loops up over the top loops and off your fingers to knit.
Repeat 1-3 until your piece is about 16in (40cm) long.
To "bind off" your four finger stitches, simply take the stitch off of your first finger, and put it on the next finger. Knit the bottom loop over the top loop, repeat for all fingers. Cut your yarn and thread it through the last loop on your finger and pull tight.
Adding the hair elastic
Your piece of finger knitting may look like a tube, but it is actually 4 stitches curled up. You can uncurl them and open up your piece. That's where we'll put the hair elastic.
Now you can thread one strand of your yarn through the eye of your tapestry needle. You'll look for the two loops on the edge of your knitting. I recommend studying these pictures closely if you're a beginner.
Thread the needle under the edge stitches, through the center of the hair elastic, and under the edge stitches on the opposite side and pull the yarn tight.
Stick the needle back through the center of the hair elastic, and repeat the process for the next edge stitch.
Continue sewing the edges of your finger knitting together while burying the hair elastic in the middle. When your hair tie starts to disappear, scrunch it up to keep working. When you've seamed the whole piece together. Lay the ends on top of each other and seam them closed.
You'll have to contend with 6 strands of yarn sticking out (two from each end of your finger knitting and one from each end of the seam). Thread your tapestry needle and stick it into the center of the scrunchy and pull the needle out a few inches from where you inserted it. Then you can cut the yarn sticking out, give the scrunchie a little stretch and the ends will be hidden inside.
There you have it! That's how you can knit a cute little velvet scrunchie with no knitting skills required!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and have fun with this project. Please share your creations with me on Instagram, I'd love to see them. And don't forget to check out the video tutorial too!